Traditionally, Microsoft has always had the keynote at CES though in late 2011 the company announced that this CES would be their last. Microsoft’s head spokesperson, Frank Shaw noted, “our product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing.”

According to French-language gaming site Xboxygen, Microsoft will announce the first details of the Xbox 720 at CES but leave the grand launch for the gaming focused Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) later this year. Xboxygen’s apparently reliable source claims that the new Xbox will have an eight core CPU and a 2GB graphics card provided by AMD.

Ballmer’s keynote begins at 6:30pm Pacific Time. Check Hardware Canucks later in the evening for our coverage and analysis.